Background

This study was aimed to identify novel susceptibility variants for second primary tumor (SPT) or recurrence in curatively treated early stage head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients.

Methods

We constructed a custom chip containing a comprehensive panel of 9645 chromosomal and mitochondrial single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) representing 998 cancer-related genes selected by a systematic prioritization schema. Using this chip, we genotyped 150 early-stage HNSCC patients with and 300 matched patients without SPT/recurrence from a prospectively conducted randomized trial and assessed the association of these SNPs with risk of SPT/recurrence.

Results

Individually, six chromosomal SNPs and seven mitochondrial SNPs (mtSNPs) were significantly associated with risk of SPT/recurrence after adjustment for multiple comparisons. A strong gene-dosage effect was observed these SNPs were combined, as evidenced by a progressively increasing SPT/recurrence risk as the number of unfavorable genotypes increased (P for trend < 1.00×10−20). Several polygenic analyses suggest an important role of interconnected functional network and gene-gene interaction in modulating SPT/recurrence. Furthermore, incorporation of these genetic markers into a multivariate model improved significantly the discriminatory ability over the models containing only clinical and epidemiologic variables.

Conclusions

This is the first large scale systematic evaluation of germline genetic variants for their roles in HNSCC SPT/recurrence. The study identified several promising susceptibility loci and demonstrated the cumulative effect of multiple risk loci in HNSCC SPT/recurrence. Furthermore, this study underscores the importance of incorporating germline genetic variation data with clinical and risk factor data in constructing prediction models for clinical outcomes.

Background:

Cell-cycle checkpoint regulates cell cycle progression and proliferation. Alterations in cell-cycle control mechanisms are linked to tumorigenesis.

Methods:

This case-control study included 147 cases and 147 controls. We used a pathway-based approach to assess the association between 10 potential functional single-nucleotide polymorphisms from seven cell-cycle control genes and the risk of oral premalignant lesions (OPLs). We also used classification and regression tree analysis to examine high-order gene-gene and gene-smoking interactions.

Results:

Compared with the homozygous wild-type GG genotype of CCND1 P241P, individuals with the AG genotype exhibited an increased risk of OPL (odds ratio, 1.58; 95% confidence interval, 0.89–2.83), and carriers of the AA genotype had a significantly increased risk of OPL (odds ratio, 2.75; 95% confidence interval, 1.33–5.71), with risk increasing significantly with the increasing number of variant alleles (P = 0.006). The risk of OPL increased significantly as the number of unfavorable genotypes in the pathway increased (P = 0.002). The final decision tree in the CART analysis contained five terminal nodes. Compared with the never smokers (the lowest risk group), the odds ratios for terminal nodes 2 through 5 ranged from 1.21 to 5.40.

Conclusions:

Our results illustrated the advantage of using a pathway-based approach for analyzing gene-gene and gene-smoking interactions. Specifically, we showed that genetic polymorphisms in cell-cycle control pathway genes may contribute to the risk of OPL.

Oral premalignant lesions (OPLs) are early genetic events en route to oral cancer. To identify individuals susceptible to OPL is critical to the prevention of oral cancer. In a case-control study consisting of 147 patients with histologically confirmed OPL and 147 matched controls, we evaluated the associations of 10 genetic variants in nine genes of the double-strand break (DSB) DNA repair pathway with OPL risk. The most notable finding was an intronic polymorphism (A17893G) of the XRCC3 gene. Compared with the homozygous wild-type AA genotype, the odds ratios [OR] (95% confidence interval [CI]) for the heterozygous AG and homozygous variant GG genotype were 0.85 (0.49–1.48) and 0.18 (0.07–0.47), respectively (P for trend=0.002). In addition, compared with the most common A-C haplotype of XRCC3 (in the order of A17893G-T241M), the G-C haplotype was associated with a significantly decreased risk of OPL (OR=0.40, 95% CI 0.23–0.68). Moreover, compared with individuals without the G-C haplotype, the ORs were 1.04 (0.56–1.95) and 0.20 (0.08–0.51) for subjects with one copy and two copies of the G-C haplotype, respectively (P for trend=0.005). Classification and regression tree (CART) analysis further revealed potential high-order gene-gene and gene-environmental interactions and categorized subjects into different risk groups according to their specific polymorphic signatures. Overall, our study provides the first epidemiological evidence supporting a connection between DSB gene variants and OPL development. Our data also suggest that the effects of high-order interactions should be taken into consideration when evaluating OPL predisposition.